Croghan, NY- The Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Association is holding its 22nd Annual Zwanzigstein Festival on Saturday, July 7th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Farm off Erie Canal Road outside Croghan, NY. This year’s theme, “A Time to Laugh” introduces three new tournaments for guests to enjoy: grass court volleyball, horseshoes and Dutch Blitz, a popular family card game.

The festival will also include live animals, arts and crafts, children’s field games, historical property tours, a silent auction, and various craft and woodworking demonstrations, as well as a variety of home-cooked and freshly prepared foods and baked goods. The festival is open to the public and there is an abundance of free parking—Z Fest entrance fees are $4 for adults and $2 for children ages 4-12.

“For this year’s Z Fest, we really wanted to explore some of the fun activities, social events and games from our historical past,” explains Dawson Grau, Executive Director of the Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Association. “We want to show people that history is more than just the mundane, everyday tasks that our ancestors had to do—they had fun too, and we’re looking forward to showcasing that at Z Fest.”

The tournaments will run all day and anyone interested should pre-register by visiting www.mennoniteheritagefarm.com. Volleyball begins at 11 a.m., followed by horseshoes at 12 p.m. and Dutch Blitz from 1-4 p.m. But the fun events are not relegated just to Z fest—the proceeds from the tournaments will go towards AMHA’s newly created “Fun for All Community Campaign,” which will create public use recreating paths and recreation equipment at the Heritage Farm.

“As a local museum and a non-profit we see it as our duty to give back to the community around us and create a place where new memories and history can be made today,” said Bernadine Schwartzentruber, Board President of the Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Association. “Therefore our goal of creating recreation paths for the farm is very important to us.”

The Adirondack Mennonite Heritage Farm is a historical farm, recognized by the National and State Registries of Historic Places, built by the Moser brothers who settled in Lewis County in the 1830s.Today the farm is run as a historical learning center dedicated to the preservation of Mennonite faith and culture and the way of life of Lewis County farmers. For more information please visit www.mennoniteheritagefarm.com or check out our Facebook page.